Shot
by mockingbird616
Summary: Set sometime during season 1. Lauren saves John from a bullet during a mission. Now, she's stuck in a coma, and the team doesn't know how to fix her. Pre-relationship John/Lauren


Author's Note: Hi. This is my first time writing in a while, so it's probably not going to be great. Please review and give me feedback or ideas. This was co-written with my sister, scarlet084, who is pretty awesome. Enjoy!

Four mutants ran, their footsteps echoing through the empty warehouse. They could hear the stomping of boots advancing towards them. Light reflected off the gray pillars, giving them hope for the safety that awaited them outside of the open doors.

This hope was quickly eliminated, as Sentinel Services encircled John, Andy, Marcos, and Lauren. John and Marcos stood between the two teenagers.

Marcos lifted his hands, his palms facing the agents. He expected his hands to illuminate the dark warehouse, but nothing happened. As he went to look at his hands, he saw the glowing eyes of his once close friend.

Pulse was here.

Unable to see Marcos' panic, Lauren readied her shields, but just like Marcos, nothing happened. She and her brother made eye contact, worry and fear piercing their hearts. With all the will she could mister, she looked towards the Sentinel Services agents in front of them, just as a gun rose to point at them. It wasn't pointed at just any of them. It was pointed at the now defenseless John. A new source of fear gripped her, her heart beating in her ears.

A shot rang and a bullet ripped through the mutant's body, as Andy screamed, but John didn't feel a thing. He looked down as Lauren fell in front of him. Red blood spread across her white tank top. He caught her in his arms but not before her head hit the hard, cold cement.

Pools of blood dripped from her body, as John lifts her body, her head cradled by one of John's calloused hands.

_Oh god,_ he thought, as his hands quickly became coated in thick, scarlet liquid. _Please no._

Andy was frozen, his eyes never straying from his sister's motionless body.

Suddenly, purple light encompassed the four of them, leading the agents to cease their fast approach. Behind John, Marcos motioned towards the portal, as he pushed Andy, who still stared at Lauren's body.

John stood rigid, shock coursing through his veins. Silence filled his ears, and Lauren's pale, blood-covered face occupied his vision.

Marcos broke his trance, "John! Hurry! Clarice can't hold it for long!"

Determination filled his eyes. Turning around, he sprinted through the portal with her limp body pressed against his chest.

"Caitlyn! Caitlyn! Help!" he screamed, as he rushed to lay Lauren down on the empty table in the vault.

Caitlyn and Reed looked at each other from their place in Sage's control center before racing to the commotion. As they arrived closer to the vault, Caitlyn rushed to assess a woundless Andy, who balanced shakily against Lorna's open arms as his face emotionless, as if the life was sucked out of him. Reed's world stopped, his eyes fixed upon the scene behind his son in the gaping, dark room; his daughter motionless and shrouded in a darkening red.

"Caitlyn!" Too focused on her son's emotional state, Caitlyn failed to see the absence of her daughter's voice and footsteps, which did not go unnoticed by Lorna. "It's Lauren!"

Realization struck her, pushing her towards Lauren's body. "Oh, God. Oh, God! What happened?"

"Sentinel Services," Marcos panted, trying to regain his strength.

"I need gauze, rags, whatever you can find to stop the bleeding, and...and alcohol," she scrambled. "I-I need more medical supplies. I need help."

"You've got this, Caitlyn," he says reassuringly.

Everyone paced around her, as she worked, except for Reed, who was still in his trance. "Out! I need space. Please."

Clarice, Marcos, and Lorna worked together to maneuver Andy, Reed, and John into the open space outside of the vault. Andy spoke in a hushed voice to Reed, as he retold the series of events that led to this grievous moment, but the weight of their sorrow caused them both father and son to fall silent. All that could be heard were John's booming footsteps as he paced across the cement floor.

After what felt like a millennium, Caitlyn slowly exited her makeshift operating room. John's head snapped towards her, his bloodshot eyes as red as the blood coating his shirt.

"Lauren's fine," Caitlyn explained shakily, "but she's not waking up. I don't know if she's just healing or if she's concussed or-"

"In a coma," John finished for her. Before anyone else could react, his fist clanged against the dark metal of the table behind him. A few moments of silence followed as everyone digested the news.

"How can she do something so stupid?" Reed spoke for the first time since he exited the operating room.

Anger coursed through the green-haired mutant's veins. "It wasn't stupid; it was heroic. If she hadn't done what she did, John would be the one lying in there."

Eclipse attempted to release some of the tension in the room, saying, "Enough! What we should be doing is finding out why she isn't waking up. It isn't a physical thing, right? I mean, she didn't hit her head that hard."

Andy stepped closer, abandoning his position in the corner of the room.

"Umm. I read once that sometimes comatose patients are in a coma because of like some sort of mental block. I don't know," Andy explained, trying to piece together his thoughts.

"What do you mean mental block?" Clarice stood confused.

Andy furrowed his brow, wondering how he was going to explain it. "It's kind of like something that stops her from wanting to come back. She doesn't want to leave her mind."

Caitlyn stiffened. "It's possible, but-"

"Isn't there like a test or something you can do?" Marcos asked. As Andy spoke, he had moved to sit on a nearby chair. He sat there, wringing his hands nervously.

"Like I said before, I don't have the equipment or the skills," Caitlyn paced. "I can't...I just can't."

"Unless…" Sonia intervened. She looked at John, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

John looks up sharply: "Absolutely not! You're talking about invading her mind without her consent. Remember how that turned out last time?"

Clarice replied, "I agr-"

"Do it." Caitlyn's face became stoic; her stance left no room for argument.

John strode up to her, his face full of fury, "You're really going to raid her mind, destroy her trust."

"Well, how else are we going to? She didn't tell us about being a mutant, and look where that got us!" Reed walked up behind his wife to stare John down.

John lunged at Reed, but Marcos quickly subdued him. Before he could further protest, a purple mist was already fanning out toward their feet.


End file.
